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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPIN€OTT COMPANY. 

1891. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPrNCOTT COMPANY 

1891. 



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Copyright, 1891, by J. H. Lippincott Company. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Massachusetts, one of the New England states of 
the American Union, lies between 41° 14' and 42° 53' 
N. lat., and between 69° 53' and 73° 32' W. long., and 
has an area of about 8040 sq. m. — larger than Wales. 
It is irregular in outline, its greatest length being about 
182 and its average breadth 47% miles. It is bounded 
on the east by Massachusetts Bay, a part of the At- 
lantic Ocean, from which the state derives its familiar 
name of the Bay State. The surface is uneven, vary- 
ing from low plains, near the sea-coast, containing 
numerous small lakes, to a rolling country in the in- 
terior, becoming mountainous as the western boundary 
is approached. This mountainous portion is composed 
of two distinct ranges, being part of the Green Moun- 
tains, which here extend southward from the adjacent 
state of Vermont. The highest of the peaks is Grey- 
lock (3505 feet), but most of them are wooded to the 
summit, and the scenery, while not grand, is of great 
beauty. The soil is in many portions, particularly in the 
east, rocky and sterile, and the state contains several 
quarries of importance yielding granite and syenite, 
red sandstone, and valuable marble. Along the river- 



4 MASS A CHUSE TTS. 

valleys, however, and in certain other sections the soil 
is fertile. The value of farm products for the census 
year 1885 was $47,756,033 ; of which ;^i3,o8o,526 was 
for dairy products, $11,631,776 for hay and fodder, 
;$5,227,I94 for vegetables, 55,446,243 for animals and 
poultry, $1,855,145 for cereals. The woodland in the 
state aggregated 1,389,502 acres. 

The rivers, while not important for navigation, arc 
the source of valuable water-power which has been 
utilised in manufacturing, in the annual output of 
which the state leads all others, except New York and 
Pennsylvania. The total number of establishments 
engaged in manufacturing and allied industries in 1885 
was 23,431 ; the capital invested being $500,594,377; 
stock used, $389,757,45 8; valueofgoods and work done, 
$674,634,269; number of persons employed, 379,328; 
total wages paid during the year, $147,415,316. The 
chief manufactures are textiles, boots and shoes, food 
preparations, building materials, clothing, iron and 
other metallic goods, leather, wooden wares, &c. The 
leading textile industries are cotton (165 establish- 
ments, 5,133,325 spindles), woolen (189 establish- 
ments), and worsted goods (23 establishments). In 
1889 there were 3869 miles of railway in the state. 

Massachusetts contains fourteen counties and returns 
12 members to congress. The state senate consists 
of 40, the House of Representatives of 240 members. 
The executive branch of the government is vested 
in the governor, who is officially styled the governor 
of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and whose 
title is His Excellency; lieutenant-governor, whose 
title is His Honour: and an advisory council con- 



MASS A CHUSE T7S. 



5 



sisting of eight members chosen by districts. The 
governor, lieutenant-governor, and heads of the exec- 
utive departments are elected annually. The cities 
of the commonwealth must have a population of at 
least 12,000. The towns (corporate bodies having less 
than 12,000 pop.) are governed by a board of select- 
men elected by popular suffrage in an annual town 
meeting of all the voters in the town, which meeting 
also makes appropriations for the maintenance of the 
different departments of the town government. All 
judges in the commonwealth are appointed by the 
governor with the advice and consent of the council, 
and hold their office during good behaviour. The 
active state militia in 1890 numbered 380 officers and 
4751 enlisted men, a total of 5 131. Besides this 
active militia all able-bodied male citizens between the 
ages of eighteen and forty-five, except exempt persons, 
are enrolled, and subject to military duty in time of 
exigency. The number so enrolled on ist January 
1890 was 325,185. 

Popular education in Massachusetts, through the 
system of free public schools, is carried to a very high 
point. In 1S88-89 there were in the cities and towns 
7023 public, primary, and grammar schools, and 236 
high schools. These are supported at public expense 
by taxation — tuition and text-books being free. Besides 
these there were 485 academies and private schools. 
The amount raised by taxation and paid for all school 
purposes was ^$7,3 50,604, the average attendance being 
270,85 1. Massachusetts maintains six normal schools, 
and there are in the state two technical institutes and 
twelve colleges and universities, the latter including 



6 MASSACHUSETTS. 

Harvard, Williams College, Amherst College, and 
Boston University and College. The savings-bank 
system is under state supervision. In 1889 there 
were 177 such banks in operation, having deposits 
amounting to ;g332, 723,688 ; besides 93 co-operative 
banks or building loan associations, with assets of 
;^ 1, 60 1, 639. 

The leading cities of Massachusetts, with pop. in 
1890, are Boston, the chief seaport and capital (446,- 
507) ; Worcester (84,536), with manufactures in metals 
and machinery; Springfield (44,164) and Holyoke 
(35,525), on the Connecticut River, the centre of the 
paper manufacture; Fall River (74,351), Lowell [yj,- 
605), and Lawrence (44,559), devoted to cotton manu- 
facturing; Lynn (5 5,684), Haverhill (27,322), and Brock- 
ton (27,278), boot and shoe centres; Salem (30,735) 
and New Bedford (40,705), both noted seaports of 
former days and now possessing extensive cotton-mills; 
Taunton (25,389), with varied manufactures; Gloucester 
(2 1 ,262), noted for its fisheries ; and Cambridge (69,837), 
near Boston, the seat of Harvard University. The 
state debt, January i, 1890, was ^28,251,288, protected 
by a sinking fund of $21,015,939. The aggregate 
valuation in the cities and towns for purposes of taxa- 
tion. May I, 1889, was 52,072,170,863. Pop. (1800) 
422,845; (1S50) 994,514; (1880) 1.783,085; (1890) 
2,238,943. 

History. — The coast is supposed to have been visited 
by Northmen about the year lOOO, but the first per- 
manent settlement was made at Plymouth, near Cape 
Cod, December 22, 1620, by the company of the 
Pilgrim Fathers (q.v.), who were separatists from the 



MASSA CHUSE TTS. 7 

English Church, and who sailed from Plymouth, Eng- 
land, in the 'ship Mayflower. This settlement became 
the nucleus of the Plymouth colony. In 1628 a 
company of Puritans under Endicott settled at Salem 
upon the coast farther north, and, together with settle- 
ments at Boston, Lynn, and elsewhere, became the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony. The union of these two 
colonies was accomplished under a new charter granted 
in 1692. Under this last charter the governor, lieu- 
tenant-governor, and secretary were appointed by the 
king. Prior to this none but the Puritan forms of 
religion had been permitted in the colony of Massa- 
chusetts, and its history had been marked by bitter 
intolerance and cruel persecutions. Now a system 
was adopted under which the majority of each town 
or parish chose the minister, who was maintained by 
the taxes paid by all alike. No consideration was 
shown to the minorities, and the old Puritan establish- 
ment was virtually continued nearly everywhere. The 
last vestiges of this union between church and state 
were not swept away until 1833. 

During the early years the colonists suffered great 
privations from the rigours of the climate, and they 
were also subjected to troubles with the Indians. 
They were, however, a hardy and industrious race, and 
gradually grew in numbers and prosperity. They 
were involved in the difficulties between England and 
France in the New World, and in the expeditions 
against the French in Canada, especially at the first 
siege of Louisburg (q.v.), the citizen soldiers of 
Massachusetts performed effective service. After the 
war of the revolution, begun in Massachusetts in 1776 



8 MASS A CHUSE TTS. 

with the battles at Lexington and Bunker Hill, the 
colony became one of the original thirteen states of 
the Union, under the name of the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. The second half of the 19th century- 
has witnessed the gradual change of Massachusetts 
from a purely agricultural to a manufacturing state, 
until now a majority of the whole population is urban; 
not, however, because less land is cultivated, but simply 
because manufactures have increased much faster 
than agriculture. See J. S. Barry, History of Massa- 
chusetts {2 vols. 1S55-57). 



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